Latin Civitas. This is the generation of that great Leviathan,
that mortal God, to whom we owe, under the immortal God,
our peace and defence."

Hobbes considered the object of this Covenant to be peace and common
defence. "Without a State," he said, "the life of man is solitary, poor,
nasty, brutish, and short." The preservation of the State was to him of
transcendent importance.

"Loss of liberty," he wrote, "is really no inconvenience, for
it is the only means by which we have any possibility of preserving
ourselves. For if every man were allowed the liberty
of following his own conscience, in such differences of consciences,
they would not live together in peace an hour."

Under such a system, it follows that rebellion is the worst of crimes.
Hobbes calls it a war renewed--a renouncing of the Covenant. He was so
terrified of it that he dwelt upon the danger of reading Greek and Roman
history (probably having Plutarch and his praise of rebels most in
mind)--"which venom," he says, "I will not doubt to compare to the
biting of a mad dog." In all leaders of rebellion he found only three
conditions--to be discontented with their own lot, to be eloquent
speakers, and to be men of mean judgment and capacity _(De Corpore
Politico_, II.). And as to punishment:

"On rebels," he said, "vengeance is lawfully extended, not
only to the fathers, but also to the third and fourth generations
not yet in being, and consequently innocent of the fact for
which they are afflicted."